Mothers’ views of health problems in the 12 months after childbirth: A concept mapping study

Abstract

Aims To identify the health problems that women feel require help and subsequent help‐seeking behaviour during the 12 months period after childbirth. Background Many women experience physical and mental health problems after childbirth, but there is a gap in understanding how they perceive their health after childbirth. Studies suggested they are inhibited in expressing their needs and so seek informal rather than professional help for their health problems. Design A mixed method concept mapping study. Method Two groups of Australian women were recruited by an online platform and purposive sampling (N = 81) in 2017–2018, based on an established concept mapping methodology. A first group created 83 brainstorm statements about post‐childbirth health problems and help‐seeking and a second group sorted and rated the statements based on their perception of the prevalence of the issues and the help‐seeking advice they would offer to others. Bradshaw`s Taxonomy of Needs was used to theoretically underpins the explanation of the results of women's felt need after childbirth. Results Multidimensional scaling resulted in six clusters of issues which were categorized into three domains: ‘health issues and care’, ‘support’ and ‘fitness’. Despite being directly asked, about two‐thirds of the women did not report experiencing any health problems. Conclusion Our findings showed women had a broader perception of healthcare needs which included support and fitness. There is a potential gap in services for women who do not have good social support. Impact Family and friends were a key source of help‐seeking. Post‐childbirth routine care was focused on infant care and limited to the first 6 weeks after childbirth. The content of current post‐childbirth care must be reviewed.

In Their Own Words: A Qualitative Investigation of the Factors Influencing Maternal Postpartum Functioning in the United States

“…More commonly available initiatives, such as prenatal education, often fail to properly prepare mothers for postpartum adjustment [ 7 ]. Importantly, there is also a gap between what healthcare providers believe postpartum mothers require to promote wellbeing during the postpartum period and what is desired by the postpartum mothers themselves [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. A recent review also called for better clarification of the dimensions of health which promote holistic maternal wellbeing and functioning in the postpartum year, beyond commonly researched topics such as depression and breastfeeding [ 11 ].…”

Necessidades e Preocupações Maternas no Período Pós-Parto: Revisão Sistemática da Literatura

“…O processo de seleção dos estudos incluídos está explanado na figura 1. Os estudos incluídos são de cariz qualitativo, à exceção do de Rouhi et al (2019), que é misto. Na tabela 2, é realizada a análise dos mesmos.…”

“…No entanto, quando o fazem sem os filhos, sentem-se culpadas (Albanese et al, 2020). (Carvalho et al, 2017;Hannan et al, 2016;Henshaw et al, 2018;Kurth et al, 2016;Masala-Chokwe & Ramukumba, 2017;Rouhi et al, 2019;Shorey & Ng, 2019;. As mães consideram-se competentes no cuidar do RN se o conseguirem amamentar .…”

“…Recorrem à internet, não enquanto fonte de informação fidedigna, pois é cómodo e rápido (Albanese et al, 2020;Kurth et al, 2016;Nan et al, 2020;Rouhi et al, 2019;Shorey & Ng, 2019;Slomian et al, 2017).…”

“…As mães queixam-se que o foco dos profissionais de saúde é o RN (Henshaw et al, 2018;Rouhi et al, 2019;Slomian et al, 2017) e que, quando são alvo de atenção, estes focamse na recuperação física, e raramente nas necessidades psicológicas e de informação (Nan et al, 2020). Outros autores salientam que os cuidados de saúde na maternidade estão centrado na gravidez, havendo uma diminuição considerável dos mesmos no PPP (Ribeiro et al, 2019) e que as mães expressam o desagrado por esse facto (Finlayson et al, 2020).…”